The invention concerns a valve arrangement for frost-resistant external operation including: a feed opening, a delivery opening, a connecting passage which connects the feed opening to the delivery opening, a first valve which is adapted to enable the fluid connection through the connecting passage in a first functional position and to close same in a second functional position, and an actuating device for actuating the first valve.
Valve arrangements for external operation, that is to say for regions which are exposed without protection to the weather and in particular to temperature fluctuations caused by the weather are known. They serve for example to provide water for caring for a garden in the external region of buildings or to provide water for watering plants in nurseries at various locations.
One problem with those valve arrangements is that those known valve arrangements are at risk from frost as the water disposed therein can freeze when the temperature falls below the freezing point and the water can then damage parts of the valve arrangement which are essential for operation thereof. In order to obviate such damage it is known for those valve arrangements to be shut off from the water supply prior to the onset of minus temperatures and then no longer use the valve arrangements at minus temperatures. That however is not satisfactory as it means that a considerable degree of complication and expenditure must be involved for the provision of water from other frost-resistant sources.
It is known from the field of hydrant technology to provide a valve which is sunk to a sufficient depth in the ground and which is actuated with a wrench or key which can be introduced into the hole in which the valve is sunk. That valve is at such a depth that usually there is no fear of its freezing even at minus air temperatures and consequently frost-resistant external operation thereof is possible. However that valve can only be actuated in a very awkward and involved manner and furthermore there is always the risk that, after actuation, water may still remain in the pipe leading out of the ground and that water freezes at minus temperatures and then results in damage to the valve arrangement.
DE 202 19 008 U discloses a frost-resistant valve arrangement which is suitable for fitment in a passage through an external wall of a building. In that valve arrangement the closure valve is disposed in the interior of the building, that is to say in the region which is safe from frost, and can be opened and closed by an actuating device which is in the external region. When the valve is closed that valve arrangement is emptied into the external region through the delivery opening so that in the closed condition there is no water in the valve arrangement. That valve arrangement allows frost-resistant operation but it can only be installed in a horizontal position. There is therefore a need for a frost-resistant valve arrangement which can be installed in any position, in particular in a perpendicular position, and which in particular is also not reliant on being installed in the wall of a building.